Scalar Vectors
by Sceptic62
Summary: The one where Accelerator goes on a week long bender due to Kamijou Touma's extremely bad luck and makes some decisions that make things very awkward. Taylor Hebert always did like pretty boys.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Got a brainfart sorta idea. Don't take this story too seriously.**

To be honest, this was not the first time Accelerator woke up in the ruins of one or more collapsed buildings. It would also not be the first time where the entirety of the destruction was his fault. And, for sake of accuracy, it was the twenty third time that the local authorities felt it necessary to surround his unconscious body with multiple squads of detainers armed to the teeth. Though, normally it was squads of the same teenage girl esper clones, and _not_ what appeared to be government sanctioned military with the aid of some quite oddly dressed people. There were a couple of "firsts" this time though. He had to admit, it was the first time he'd ended up in another country. And an English speaking one, from what he could tell based on the bent road signs that were driven into the ground around him, like some sort of corona for a throne. It was also the first time he had zero recollection of what happened for him to arrive here. Last he could think of, he was downing another beer in annoyance trying to deal with Last Order. Then, blank. He stood up, shook his head, and started stretching and popping his many joints. The many soldiers around him tensed. Then, something metal and abrasive rubbing against something tender and soft gave him pause in his limbering exercises. He pulled at his waist band and stared down. Well, that was new too he supposed. He trained his crimson eyes on one of the soldiers around his size and pointed at him. Thank god he learned English on a whim.

"You there. Give me your underwear. I'm chafing."

* * *

When Taylor Hebert woke up that Sunday morning, the first thing she noticed was the softness of her bed and her sheets. The second thing she noticed was a distinct lack of _coverage_ that allowed her to feel the soft sensation across certain parts of her body. She blearily pulled up her covers. Those were not hers. In fact, she was fairly sure those weren't a women's piece either. She blew her mussed up locks out of her face before looking around. Well, there was her top, her jeans, and her shirt. She opened the curtains next to her bed and was immediately assaulted by the sun's rays. A splitting migraine and a sensation of nausea were the first response, so she shut the curtains once more. She sat there for a few more minutes contemplating all this information. Her brief thoughts, before running into her bathroom and throwing up what she was sure was last night's lasagna and a pint of vodka, was that she was pretty sure the guy had white hair and pretty eyes.

Over three hours had passed since Taylor had woken up, and finally nursed away her horrible, horrible hangover. Once she was in a calm state, she started panicking once more.

"Oh god. Oh god. Oh no. Oh god!" She ranted to herself in frustration while storming around her room. She had sex! And not even the romantic, loving, nurturing kind! She had a one night stand with some random guy she met while jogging. And drunk too! How did this even happen? She was fifteen for Christ's sake! This could not get any worse!

* * *

Danny Hebert was a lanky man. A tall man. A reliable man with dark hair, spectacles, and was frequently associated with the word "soft". However, he had an iron will. Sort of necessary when you raised a daughter alone in the crime center of the country. And if a strong constitution didn't work, hot lead usually sufficed. Though, the encroaching feeling of buying a bat to beat the shit out of some kid was starting to ramp up ever since this morning when he walked into his daughter's room.

"Hey, hun, I heard your ranting from downstairs, is everything al-" The father started as he walked through the door to his daughter's room. Taylor hadn't changed or cleaned up since she woke up this morning. So when Danny Hebert opened the door, he got a face and nose full of what his daughter had been ranting about. A deep musky scent hit his nose first, one he couldn't quite place, followed by the sharp, intoxicating aroma of a good alcohol. Then, he was assaulted by the smell of vomit. He looked around the room, which was normally so tidy. Clothes strung about the floor, including his little girl's unmentionables. An unmade bed and tightly closed curtains made the whole room seem very dark. He turned to his daughter. She was still fairly undressed, except for one piece of clothing that he knew for a fact was not his. All of a sudden that musky scent was a bit easier to place. He coughed into his closed fist and looked away as his daughter stared at him wide-eyed.

"Did you use protection?" Well, that certainly could have come out better, thought the single father. However, his own eyes widened as daughter started tearing up. That was _never_ a good sign. He had never had expected something horrible could happen to his family, especially not now, after all they had been through. He walked forward and wrapped his daughter up in his arms.

"I'm gonna call the police, try not to change or touch anything. Everything's gonna be alright, Taylor." He said soothingly as he patted her back. He was startled, once again however, when his daughter spoke up.

"Don't. I think. I think I was the one who made the decision, Dad." She said slowly. He looked at her strangely. His daughter had already begun drying the tears that had started forming earlier. And her face was set in a mask of confusion.

"Taylor, I am seriously doubting that you wanted this. And even if you did, no way were you in the right state of mind! You, quite frankly, smell like a brewery." He reasoned. She shook her head again. He frowned.

"If you can give me one good reason, then I'll let you try to settle the matter yourself." Her face was set in a pondering state when he looked back down at her. Then she frowned in thought. Danny watched as several more emotions flitted across her face, but none that were immediately worrying. Though what she said next was slightly worrying in retrospect.

"I'm actually now completely positive that I'm the one who jumped _him_ , Dad." She said calmly. _That_ completely threw the tired father for a loop.

* * *

Accelerator sighed. And sighed again. And once more for dramatic effect. He shifted in his seat. Adjusted his white coat and fluffed its furred neck and hood. That was the _last_ time he was babysitting Last Order again. It had been slow, and painful, dredging through his memories with his enhanced processing power, but he finally figured out what happened. At some point, after meeting the girl last week, he challenged that damn Kamijou again, and due to some series of unbelievable events, had ended up trying to drink the kid under the table after pilfering an ungodly amount of beer and whiskey. He rubbed his temples. His last consistent memory was quite literally one whole week ago. His meditation eventually brought up the memories of the past week, but all he got from that was intermittent scenes of him travelling and blowing up other espers. And one of a semi-naked black haired girl kissing his neck. At least that explained his missing boxers. And the pair of white frilled garments in his back pocket. He shuddered. As if that damned overgrown woman-child Misaka wasn't annoying enough in the awkward encounters department. Now he had to return lace to a girl a couple years his junior, from what he could tell. He sighed again and put his head on the cool metal table. He adjusted his pants once more. He never did get that underwear. A few minutes later, he shouted at the top of his lungs. Where the hell was that missive from the Japanese government!?

* * *

Taylor picked at her breakfast awkwardly while sitting across from her dad. After reviewing the slightly foggy memories of last night, she was definitely the one who instigated… relations. Shoving your hand down someone else's pants was a pretty big indicator, drunk or not. She coughed and turned her face a bit more down so as to hide her blush. She watched as her father faked a cough as well. He then reached for the remote and turned on the small television that was set in the kitchen. He was probably trying to cover up this awkwardness with white noise she mused.

"-ight. The cape in question is brand new to Brockton Bay, though according to our sources in the PRT, is a sanctioned hero from Japan. And now, we'll send you over to the experts' desk to get some more info. Richard?" The blond newscaster said on screen. Taylor watched as the panel of researchers offered up all their theories and discoveries. Then it showed a picture of the cape in question. She noted that he was about her age, and fairly thin and pale. A bit "bishounen", she'd heard some Asian girls describe many similar boys as such. Apparently it was a good description for a boy pretty like a girl. Though, what struck her the most was the teen's white hair, and beautiful ruby eyes. Wait. That sounded very familiar. She watched as the overhead news copter capture showed the moment the young cape was apprehended. He was pretty trendy, she noted. A pure white, fur lined coat, complete with a set of grey pants and a white and grey lined shirt. The rag that was hanging out of his back pocket completed the image. Oh god, that wasn't a rag. She let out a disappointed groan once she realized her suspicions were true. Her father, quick witted as always, offered his help. In the form of a ride to the PRT.

* * *

Accelerator had finally gotten his missive. Of course, things couldn't be that easy. Apparently, in his hungover or drunken state, he had gotten into a fight with a couple gangs in the area. As such, he was being placed in an interrogation cell for a short period while the two governments hashed out exactly how to handle the situation. Accelerator wasn't really worried. As the world's strongest level five esper, he was quite literally invaluable. At most, he would have to deal with a handler and parole-esque conditions when he got home. His country would handle the compensation. Probably. He leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head. He brushed some of his white hair out of his eyes, and prepared to take a nap. He heard the creaking of the interrogation room door opening, and one of the officers walked in, accompanied by a very familiar shock of curly black hair. He tilted his head and examined the girl. Well, at least his drink addled mind didn't have _terrible_ taste. She was a bit on the thin side, but he wasn't really in much of a position to judge. Beyond that, she seemed fairly attractive, long legs in tight jeans and a fairly toned body from what he could make out through the slightly tight green shirt. She wasn't necessarily curvy, but he also realized that she probably hadn't finished developing. Narrowed, calculating red met wide, expressive green. The girl flushed and adjusted her glasses nervously before looking away. He watched as she thanked the guard and sat down across from him while pulling her duffel bag from behind and dropping it on the table quietly. She shuffled under his gaze a little more before breaking the ice.

"Do you… do you remember me?" She asked hesitantly. Accelerator nodded. The girl let out a sigh of relief, before flaring up in a blush once more. She slowly opened her drawstring bag, and withdrew a piece of folded cloth. The girl placed it on the table before sliding it across to him. He grabbed it and unfolded it.

"I, um, I washed it and dried it. You didn't look like you had much clothing on you, so I thought you would need a clean, you know…" The girl trailed off. She refused to meet his eyes. He sighed once more, getting her attention. Accelerator looked at the pair of boxers and nodded.

* * *

Taylor was quite honestly wondering if death would be as bad as this. Right now, she was being watched by two PRT soldiers and a hero who looked like Battery. In an interrogation room. While she handed a pair of underwear back to the guy she spent part of the night with. She honestly thought the hardest part had been trying to explain to the receptionist why she needed to meet with a foreign cape who levelled an entire city block. The snickers and light teasing would scar her for the rest of her life, she noted. Her gaze was refocused when the teen across from her sighed.

"Thank you." He said. Taylor made note of his accent. It was definitely East Asian, given the way he had pronounced the normal "th" as "s". Taylor nodded back.

"Your welcome." Came the automatic response. She watched as his red eyes examined her once more. She was beginning to feel very self conscious with how much he had been checking her out. Though, she supposed with a bit of embarrassment, he really didn't need to check her out. She watched as he pulled something out of his back pocket. It was crumpled, white and laced. He reached over the table and dropped it in her lap. Taylor already knew what it was, so she supposed she had to thank him for at least trying to preserve her dignity in front of the one way mirror. Wouldn't help much, since she'd be searched on her way out.

"Thank you." She said quietly as she shoved the pair of panties into her bag. He nodded. There was a bit of silence once more before Taylor broke it.

"I'm Taylor Hebert." She muttered out, trying to meet his piercing gaze once more. She could feel his eyes rove over her entirely once again.

"Accelerator. My name does not translate well." He said. She nodded. She had heard somewhere that non-anglican names were often symbolic and meaningful, not just perpetuations of old queens and kings. Though, that did make her wonder what his name truly was then. For him to decide that Accelerator was the closest thing in the English language was interesting. Maybe his name had something to do with running, or speed. She was summarily interrupted out of her train of thoughts when the white-haired boy kicked off both his shoes, and started unbuckling his belt.

"Wh-wh-what in the world are you doing!?" She shout whispered. She didn't shout mainly because losing composure in front of someone as strong as him was not a great idea.

"Haaaah?" He started as he tilted his head at her, confused, before unbuttoning his slacks and showing off his Orion's belt. And obvious lack of underwear. She wasn't looking. Totally not.

"It's not like it's new to you…" He said exasperated. Her cheeks warmed for the umpteenth time that day.

"But still! It's not proper!" She tried to reason. She really did not need this. No matter how pretty the guy was. Or how good he was with his hands.

"Who cares? I'm chafing and it's annoying me." He said as he tore his trousers down. Taylor let out an undignified "Eep!". Then proceeded to avert her not so virgin gaze. A few seconds of shuffling later and she turned to look again. This time, the guy was fully clothed, so she dodged a bullet there. She let out a sigh. She heard a creaking noise, and turned to the door. In walked one of the Protectorate. She was pretty sure it was Assault. The man winked at her before handing the white haired boy a slip of paper before leaving.

* * *

Accelerator let his eyes roam over the sheet, devouring all the information. Then, he stood up, swore up and down the small room, ignoring the girl. In a fit of rage, he vector shifted the chair he was sitting in earlier into the wall, leaving nothing but a scrap heap. Community service!? And over twenty thousand hours!? That was two years worth of work put together! How the hell did this happen!? He reeled in his anger. He turned to the other occupant of the room. Huh, she wasn't scared? That was actually quite amusing.

"Hey, you know where I can stay for the next four years?" He asked deadpan.

* * *

 **A/N: So, if this gets enough traffic or good reviews I'll continue it with effort. Otherwise it'll probably be one of my for fun brain storm projects where I'll update occasionally if I get inspiration.**

 **So, if I do continue this, it's probably going to be more awkward vignettes with occasional snippets of action. Accelerator's a bit more calm in this, mainly because he hasn't been forced to use the stupid collar because he hasn't been shot yet. Mainly because shooting Japan's strongest cape would be a pretty bad idea. He's also not as villainous, but he is still an asshole.**

 **Thanks for reading :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: More plot bunnies!**

* * *

Taylor stood in her living room. Staring down the white haired boy sprawled across her family couch. And his open briefcase literally filled to the brim with various denominations of American dollars. Her questioning gaze drifted back towards the young man. Taylor raised an eyebrow. He shrugged. She sighed in frustration while massaging her eyes with both hands. Taylor glanced once more at the couch, before shoving the boy off slightly and taking a seat. She sunk deep into the comfortable cushions. The boy huffed slightly before reclaiming his position and settling his head on her lap. Taylor raised an eyebrow again. This time, the boy ignored her while pulling out a phone and fiddling with it. Giving up, she absentmindedly stroked the young man's white locks. This…was the single most infuriating dumbass she had ever met in her life! It hasn't even been a full day since the PRT left him with her family! She winded her hand back before delivering a particularly vicious swat to the back of his head.

"Son of a bitch!" The albino youth shouted as he shot up to a sitting position while clutching his skull. He twisted around and sent a fierce glare at the girl. Taylor didn't flinch, she just stared back, almost bored.

"What the hell was that for?!" He snarled. Taylor thought it was cute. Like a baby Rottweiler. A few hours with the other teen had quickly desensitized the young lady. Even if she lost her _ahem_ to him, it didn't really mean much. Especially after he pretty much broke into her house, dropped some cash from his briefcase on the counter and just brazenly set himself up in the guest room. Apparently, a hasty denial meant "Go on right ahead!" to the PRT and Protectorate. So now she was stuck with a new housemate. She shook herself out of her thoughts before replying.

"Felt like it." She said dismissively. Taylor watched the boy as he huffed to himself in anger once more, before he plopped his head back onto her lap. She went back to playing with Accelerator's soft locks. Even though this was certainly a weird situation, it was...nice. She supposed. Didn't stop her from thinking about the fact that she was apparently catnip to jerks though.

* * *

One day later.

Accelerator was rapidly oscillating between two states of emotions. Severe boredom and severe anger. Specifically, he started out extremely agitated after completing his damn required service hours. Then, he wandered around the city in absentminded boredom. However, eventually he became annoyed with doing nothing. So he got angry. Then bored once again. Such a vicious cycle. At least it was less tedious than his Idol work.

He idly walked a few more blocks around the city before exhaling slowly through his teeth. Gah! How the hell did normal people spend their time? It's not like he needed a job, and it's not like he needed to go to school with his abilities. He stopped abruptly, interrupting the foot traffic. A few pedestrians muttered in annoyance and side stepped the white haired boy. Didn't that girl, Tay or whatever, go to a school nearby?

He stopped a nearby pedestrian and asked for directions to the nearest high school. Weird looks aside, the man gave fairly comprehensive directions. He grunted in thanks before jumping on to the roof of a nearby building. Slap the great Master Accelerator, huh? His vengeance will be swift and embarrassing!

* * *

Taylor furiously shoved her books into her bag. One by one, they quickly disappeared with a angry whip of her arm. Today, was not a good day in the least! Three failed homework turn-ins thanks to the damned _Trio_ and their lackeys. She went to grab another textbook, but hissed in pain when she palmed it at an angle. And a sprained wrist, from being tripped in gym class. She clenched her teeth as she put her bag down so she could massage the pained joint. She let out a sigh of relief as the sharp sensation reduced to a dull soreness.

Hoping that she could deal with the rest of the day peacefully, Taylor grabbed her lunch from her locker, and made her way to her sixth period break. She looked around the hallway as she walked down towards the cafeteria. Seeing a small group of her tormentors, Taylor ducked into one of the unoccupied classrooms before they noticed her. As she watched them leave from the door window, she considered just sitting down and eating her lunch in peace. Eating alone in silence had to be better than eating alone in open ridicule, she grimaced.

Slipping out of the classroom, Taylor ran directly into a leg. Once more, she tripped, though this time she suffered far less injury. The same could not be said for her brown-bag lunch. As soon as it landed away from her, a pearl colored track shoe slammed into it.

"Oops. Sorry about that! Although, it's not like you needed it anyways." A snarky voice said, followed by a couple of giggles. Taylor didn't even bother looking up. She was better off just letting them laugh and walk away instead of trying to challenge anyways. The giggling tapered off, and eventually the multiple pairs of legs surrounding her walked away. She sighed. She picked up the remains of her lunch, peanut butter and jelly soaking through the bag, and potato crumbles leaking out one of the many openings. Without even a second more of consideration, she tossed it into the nearby trash can. She looked for somewhere to sit out the rest of period, and maybe catch up on some studying.

She sneaked past one of the roving teachers, and sat down in one of the multitude of stairwells that occupied the school. Quietly as possible, she pulled out one of her notebooks and got started on some of her make up work.

* * *

Accelerator frowned. He had only been lurking around for barely an hour and what he'd seen so far in this "school" disgusted him. Blatant racism, a disinterested faculty, and a shitty curriculum were quite literally the first things that came to mind when he thought of Winslow High School. He deftly tripped one of the skinheads that were trying to mess with him. Another fell to a sucker punch when the bastard made a grab for the plastic bag he was holding. He scowled. No one was going to touch Accelerator's inarizushi and live. Another well placed snap kick dissuaded the last thug.

"Tch. Weak as hell…" He said absentmindedly. Exploring the school some more, the white haired teen tried to find the daughter of his unofficial landlord. He couldn't exactly place why he cared so much about someone that he had barely a day of interaction with. The fact that they had been intimate was actually the furthest reason in his mind, honestly. Spying the curly locks of black hair ducking into a classroom, the young man decided to wait. While sneaking into a school of such high population had been easy, it wouldn't exactly be easy to sneak into a class of thirty recognizable faces. However, when a few girls peeled off from the normal foot traffic, Accelerator became intrigued.

He watched as they set themselves up on the sides of the door. A few seconds later, Tay came out and immediately stumbled onto the ground. Then, one of the girls had the audacity to destroy the contents of the bag the black haired girl was carrying. A few seconds later, they all walked by him, stifling giggles and laughter. He turned back towards the other girl, and watched as she defeatedly tossed the remains of her lunch into a nearby trashcan. Accelerator scowled. The Accelerator of the past would have probably laughed. Hell, he probably would have joined in on the deriding. Put down the weak so that they could never challenge him. He watched as she briskly walked away from the classroom, as though nothing had happened. He followed. Curse Yoshikawa, curse Aiho, curse Last Order, and curse his now bleeding heart.

He quieted the sound he made by reflecting the vectors of the noise energy back in. He was silent as he opened the stairwell door and walked down the steps to greet the other girl. He sat down next to her and sighed while placing his bag to the side. Tay, so focused on whatever studies she was working on, let out a squeak of startlement, before calming down once she realized who it was. He watched as her face flitted through a potpourri of emotions, most of which resembled confusion. She settled on glaring at him apprehensively. Fumbling with the plastic bag, Accelerator pulled out a black case with a clear plastic lid. He quickly popped open the plastic, and haphazardly offered the box to the girl.

* * *

Taylor looked at her new housemate strangely. From what she knew, the guy was a full time hero, even though he was only seventeen or so. And, he was a genius, given the fact that when she googled him, there were a few doctorate level research articles on theoretical physics already published in his name. So, sitting in a dumpy stairwell of a cruddy school was completely below her image of him. He shook the box in front of her slightly. Right, he was offering her food. She looked at the case. Inside were about five or six small wraps. From what she could see, it looked like some sort of fried food stuffed with rice, fish, and ginger from the smell. She plucked one out of the box. It retreated back to the other side before the boy took one as well.

Taylor watched as the boy took a large bite of his, before biting into hers as well. It was greasy, and a bit much too savory for her. She always was a light eater. But, it was good. She relaxed into the step behind her and took another bite. A few moments later, she had finished her wrap. The boy offered another, and she snatched one quickly, eliciting a slight snort in reaction. She pouted at him.

In the middle of her current wrap, she heard the crack of an aluminum can, and the telltale fizz of carbonation. Looking over, she saw that Accelerator had a can of beer. Seeing her questioning look, the teen shrugged.

"Diplomatic immunity." He said nonchalantly. Seeing his utter disregard for the law, Taylor felt a bit whimsical. Swiping the can from him, she took a bite and a sip. It was the first time she actually tasted alcohol. From what she could remember, the liquor she shared with Accelerator earlier was completely bland besides the burn of poison. She swished the combination of food and liquid in her mouth. It was a mix of bitter-sweet, sour, and saltiness. She swallowed. Accelerator swiped the can back from her with a disgruntled look before continuing eating. They sat there, chewing and sipping. Accelerator broke the silence first.

"Why…" He started, confusion plastered across his face. Taylor watched his red eyes, shining with something she couldn't identify. He closed his mouth, and took another bite, chewing both his words and food, letting them dance across his tongue in search of the right combination.

"Why do you not fight back?" He finished. Taylor sat there, contemplating the question. She didn't know why, but she wanted to be honest. Maybe it was the half a beer she had, but she wanted to let _someone_ , _anyone_ know.

"Because, the harder you push, the harder they push back." She said quietly. And it was true. Her peers abandoned her. Her teachers ignored her. And the administration failed her. She was the footnote in someone else's story. It felt like the world was dead set on making her small. Accelerator nodded, and swirled the the last sips in the can before downing it all in one.

" _Tsuno o tamete ushi o korosu._ " He ventured forth. Taylor stared at him in confusion, before Accelerator chuckled at her look.

"It means, 'To kill a bull by straightening its horns.'" He explained. Taylor looked at him like he had gone insane this time. He frowned, and grabbed a second can from the bag before cracking it.

"It's an old proverb. Bulls use their bowed horns to stop other bulls from running them through. But, straight horns make it easier to kill humans. So, do you guarantee a bull's death by straightening its horns? Or do you choose the safer path of killing the bull by allowing it to retain its curved horns?" He took a fresh sip from the new can. Taylor digested the saying for a bit.

"Are… are you saying I should fight?" She asked hesitantly. She watched a frown mar Accelerator's boyish face before replying.

"No. If you fight back, they _will_ put you through a greater hell in an attempt to cull you. If you cower, however, they will _continue_ to put you through hell." He said, rolling his head back and staring at the ceiling. Taylor nodded. Fighting may be the right decision, but was the pain worth it? That was what Accelerator was saying. It was a few more moments before Accelerator said something that caused her train of thought to stumble.

"If...if something like this happens again, call me. I _despise_ weaklings that pick on those even weaker than them." He whispered as he handed her his phone to trade numbers. Taylor, unsure how to respond, simply accepted. She entered his number under the name Axel, and put herself as Taylor.

"I won't call." She said calmly. He reeled on her in surprise, red eyes wide, and mouth open to protest. Taylor held her hand up to calm him down.

"I won't call. I don't need someone to fight my battles for me." Taylor explained. And, she felt it was the right thing to do. Letting Accelerator fight her battles, someone who was strong in ways she knew she couldn't understand, undermined her own sense of self. It took a while for Accelerator to digest what Taylor had said, but his reaction was spontaneous. He started laughing. Taylor stared at him oddly. It was...different. It wasn't cold and biting like she had expected it to be, but genuinely cheerful. She giggled as well. It was contagious honestly. After calming herself, she spoke again.

"But," she continued, "I appreciate the offer. And, maybe I'll call the next time I 'lose' my lunch." Then the bell rung, and in a spur of the moment, Taylor kissed him on the cheek in thanks before grabbing everything and running to her next class.

* * *

Accelerator sat there. Nursing his drink. It would only be a few minutes before the stairwell was flooded with students, but he truly didn't care. He palmed his cheek. That girl. So aggressive. He took another sip. Kamijou Touma. The boy who could defeat the strongest. The boy that made even Accelerator grit his teeth out of respect. This feeling. Where Accelerator's heart stirred. He wanted to forget the world and drown in this feeling. It was why he lived with those three knuckleheads. And it was what Kamijou fought for. He stood up, gathered the trash, and walked out the door, masquerading as a student once more. There were worse things to fight for, he supposed.

* * *

 **A/N: I like Accelerator too much. He's so fun to write. Mainly because he didn't start as the hero, but the villain, a genuine villain, that converted slowly.**

 **I don't know how long it might take before the hero stuff starts, but this is fun as is. Probably next chapter, which would be soon too.**

 **Thanks for reading, please review :D**


	3. Chapter 3

He smirked. She pursed her lips in thought. Accelerator noted that this had been the basis of their actions for the past week. Quite funny, to him at least. This situation, however…

"Morning." He grunted from his position. Face down and mostly naked on the bed spread. His bed mate wasn't much different. Although, she was sitting up, and leaning against the headboard looking like god had forsaken her.

"Morning." She said calmly. Accelerator chuckled internally. Watching Tay's slow and rapid reactions when she tried to make sense of things was his main source of entertainment since being stranded here. Sometimes, her emotions would rapidly make themselves known, and other times she would try to slowly talk the world into making sense again. Currently, the girl was nursing her headache by rubbing her temples and muttering to herself. Eventually, she gave up on that as well.

"So. At this rate, I think you're gonna make me an alcoholic before I even reach legal drinking age." She said to him, laying back down and pulling the covers up to hide her modesty. Accelerator snorted. _That_ was what she cared about? He said as much.

"Well, yeah. I haven't even been friends with you for more than a week, and I'm pretty sure just last night I had a literal pitcher worth of cocktails." She explained. Accelerator raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Wait, you were serious? What about the whole 'waking up with a stranger' thing?" He asked, clearly concerned for her mental well being. Well, as much as Accelerator let himself be concerned, he supposed. She nodded.

"Tch. Stranger? It hasn't even been five days and it already happened again. Your drunk persona would have to be the most charming person in the world for me to get in bed with a total stranger." She dismissed. He guessed she was right. They were much more intimate than strangers, but in no way part of a relationship.

"Or, your drunk persona is completely insatiable." He quipped. This time she flushed and swatted his arm. She muttered something about perverts before curling back underneath the covers. Accelerator pulled her body closer to his, causing Tay to squeak in surprise. Relationship or not, being able to be close with someone like this was something Accelerator cherished. He nuzzled his head into the crook of her neck, causing her to gasp, blush, and mutter incoherent curses at the same time.

"J-J-Just go back to sleep. Ass." She said, settling into the new position.

* * *

Later that morning, Taylor sat at the kitchenette, eating a bowl of cereal and trying to make sense of what had happened last night. Again. She huffed. This better not be a common occurrence she thought to herself. Trying to keep track of events, she thought over the previous day. It started when she had rushed home, in tears. The _Trio_ had been particularly vicious today. Emma had even gone so far as to bring up Mom again. She gripped her spoon in anger. Apparently, she had run into Accelerator coming back from another Community Service trip and was stopped before she could get home.

He was gentle, she supposed. He had pulled her into a tight hug, letting her cry until she could settle down. His complaints about ruining his jacket did not earn any points, she noted. A few explanations later, and her new _friend_ decided the best way to deal with all of Taylor's pent up emotions was to get them both completely wasted on a bunch of mixers and vodka. Which led to this morning's bedroom situation. She groaned and put her head in her arms as Accelerator walked into the kitchen.

"Where's your father?" He asked, looking around apprehensively. Taylor laughed. When Danny Hebert first learned that the WMD disguised as a teenage boy was going to be staying with them, he laughed. When he realized that the same boy was the one who made his "baby girl" into a woman, he grabbed the boy by the arm and locked them in a cell together. It only took a few hours before they came out, and Accelerator was so pale that Taylor thought she could see his bones. Of course, her father merely laughed it off, and said it was a tenant interview.

"He left a note. Said he was buying a bat. Asked if I could pick up some groceries and to get you to help." She said, holding up the note. The boy grimaced before snatching it from her hand and reading it himself.

"You didn't mention the multiple threats of bodily harm." He muttered. She giggled, covering it with her free hand.

"I mean, you're a cape. It's not like he can actually hurt you. Much." She amended.

"You try waking up with a full grown man staring at you in the middle of the night." He countered, while shuddering. His first night sleeping here was certainly not relaxing.

"Oh come on, he's just being protective." She said. Though, that did bring a stray thought to Taylor's mind. One that seriously needed to be answered. Otherwise, she might help her dad in beating up the ass.

"By the way, you d-" She started before being interrupted.

"Don't worry about it. A few...incidents left me sterile." He explained, pulling out another bowl and sorting himself some breakfast. Taylor nodded, trusting him. A somewhat comfortable silence settled across the table.

* * *

Taylor sighed. Buying groceries was _not_ supposed to be this difficult. Apparently, Accelerator was the pickiest eater in the universe! Instead of a normal market, they were down by the docks, looking for fish. She watched as he haggled with another vendor, multiple insults and insinuations traded back and forth.

"Just pay the man already! We've been here for an hour looking for some damn tuna!" She exclaimed while readjusting the two burlap bags on her shoulder. They had already done this same song and dance for most of the other groceries at the local farmer's market that he dragged her to. While she had to admit the man was good at haggling, spending their entire day looking for cut prices was not worth it. In response, the other teen huffed, before pulling out _his_ wallet this time and paying the smirking vendor for two of the iced fish.

Accelerator shoved the two wrapped fish into one of Taylor's burlap bags before taking it from her and placing it on his own shoulder. Taylor watched as his pout never left her face as they walked down the street away from the docks.

"Do you really need to haggle with everyone?" She asked, exasperated. He readjusted the bags once more, and growled. Unable to stop herself, Taylor reached up and patted the slightly shorter boy's head.

"You know, I'd honestly think I was friends with a dog, if it weren't for some of the things we've done." She joked brazenly. Accelerator growled louder before pushing her hand away.

"If I'm a dog, then that makes you my bitch." He mumbled, turning away to hide the words. She frowned. And swatted his head viciously.

"God damn it woman, same spot!" He hissed as he clutched his head.

"You totally deserved that, you know that right?" She said calmly while dragging him by the arm towards the house. He hissed again. They walked a few more blocks before Taylor remembered something specific.

"Hey, aren't you a Brute or something? How come I don't hurt my hand hitting you?" She asked, genuinely curious. Capes were interesting, especially the ones far removed from the human norm. So, when her hand didn't sting after slapping him, Taylor was genuinely curious. He looked at her, as though her words were utterly bizarre. Realizing he didn't understand, she continued.

"You know, Brute, Tinker, Shaker? The different cape classifications?" She explained, holding her fingers out as she listed each one. He clucked his tongue and nodded.

"Japan doesn't use those terms." He said dismissively before picking up the pace. She stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder. Placing her hand on her hip, she raised her eyebrow and stared at him. He sighed.

"It's complicated. Basically, we have slightly more vague, yet precise descriptions. Esper and Magi." He started Taylor nodded. She was slightly confused, however, as to how a two term system was more precise than the American one.

"Espers, like me, have powers that can be based in reality. Powers that follow the rules of physics. While not natural in any sense, my abilities can be explained thoroughly in a classroom by a professor." He explained. Taylor nodded, wide eyed. She had never heard of this before.

"Magi on the other hand, have no explanation. Quite simply, they're bullshit." He huffed. She heard him mumble something that sounded like "Imaginary" under his breath.

"So," Taylor began, " How do you tell the difference between a Magi and an Esper?" He hummed in thought, before turning to her.

"Look at it like this. You can make something levitate a multitude of different ways. Magnetic manipulation, gravity manipulation, mass manipulation. Those all fall under the Esper classification, because we can explain what is happening. Magi, can just make a box sit in the air, with no difference in any sense. That's where abilities such as aerokinesis generally fall." Accelerator continued. Taylor nodded, trying to wrap her head around it.

"So how does your super strength work?" She asked, wondering how in the world someone could explain something like Lung or any of the other local capes with physics.

"Hn." She pouted. He totally snubbed her!

* * *

Walking down the street, Accelerator listened to Tay's mindless chatter. Occasionally, he would throw in his own comment or grunt. He sighed. Well, perhaps it wasn't mindless, because he didn't think her complaints and comments were unwarranted. Then, pointless? He shook his head. No, it wasn't that either. Because even though he already knew the basis for her complaints, he felt that it was necessary for Tay to voice them. All of a sudden, he was pushed into an alley.

Shaken out of his thoughts, he looked over to his companion. She had a finger over her lips, and her eyes were wide with fear. He let his eyes wander over her form. Hunched over, and arms pulled tight to her chest as she tried to settle her breathing. His only thought was that she looked so small. He snarled, and peeked out of their mutual cover. He couldn't see anything _truly_ threatening. A few passerby, and some semi-familiar faces. His eyes did pick out someone specific across the street though. One of the girls that had set up Tay's fall at school. She was chatting with three others, and from reading her lips, he could tell that she deferred to them.

His eyes narrowed before snapping back to the girl next to him. Her shallow breathing and frenzied look had passed. Now she was simply resting against the cool brick of the alleyway. He waited a bit longer for her to calm herself.

"I'm sorry…" Tay said quietly. He didn't respond, at first. Saying anything would be detrimental. Because it meant that she had good reason to be sorry. The boy let a scowl settle on his face. She had _no_ reason to be sorry. She had _no damned_ reason to be _this_ scared! He calmed himself. Quietly exhaling and inhaling slowly. He looked over at the girl.

Her black curls curtained her face as she bowed her head. She had one arm supporting her head against the brick wall, and another holding onto a small necklace that he had mistaken for a simple chain. In her hand, was a charm. Accelerator had no idea what to do. The most experience he had with women had been with two immature older woman and an impossibly annoying ten year old. Tentatively, he stuck his hand out, and soothingly patted the girl on her back. It would be a few seconds before Tay broke out into a light fit of giggling.

"You," She paused to stifle some more giggling, "You have no idea what you're doing, do you?" She let out, covering her smile with her hand. He scoffed. Not like she knew for sure that Accelerator had no idea what he was doing. Might as well play the part.

"Hn." He grunted once again. Safe and sound. No one would know.

"No, I didn't think so." Damn it all. He blushed and flinched from her amused gaze. Tch. Even One Way Road wasn't impenetrable, he supposed.

* * *

Taylor sat next to Accelerator on their couch, mindlessly vegging in front of the television. He hadn't said a word since they had come home, beyond unenthusiastic expressions of gratitude at least. He seemed to be lost in thought again, she mused. On impulse, she leaned into the albion teen and pushed his head onto the opposite arm rest. His bewildered face only made her grin sheepishly. She laid her body on top of his, and snaked her arms around his chest, placing her head in the crook of his neck. She relaxed her body into his and let out a deep breath. In return, the boy slowly wrapped his arms around her.

He wasn't entirely sure, Taylor could tell by the way his breath hitched and how jerky his motions were. It was one thing to snuggle in afterglow, where body heat and closeness were more than welcome in the early morn under the covers. This, however was different, and they both knew it.

She snuggled deeper. She took a deep breath, his scent filling her senses. He smelled like what other teenage boys smelled like, she assumed. But, it was special to her. It proved that he was real. That _this_ was real. She didn't know what _this_ was, exactly. And from an outside standpoint, it probably would have seemed rushed, or teetered on the insane, to get so close and intimate with someone she had known for about a week. But, nearly two years deprived of positive non-familial contact had left her weary. And for once, she could rest. She could let her guard down.

"Better?" The boy's voice came out quietly.

"Better."

* * *

 **A/N: Yay for non action stories. So, I finally got the first set of plot bunnies out of my head, this probably won't be updated until my finals end, same with my other stories.**

 **Thanks for reading, please review :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey all, this chapter's a bit more filler than I'd like, but the next one is gonna be relatively soon. It'll also pick off right where this one left off :D**

* * *

"H-Hamijmahite? Hamijomashiro… Hajimimi. Pbbt." Taylor spluttered. She sat there, looking like a fool as her "tutor" hid his raucous laughter with his hand. Hid being a very weak estimation, of course. In fact, he hadn't stopped laughing yet. Her pouting only seemed to make the laughter even louder. Humph. What a waste of an hour. Now, why exactly was Taylor Hebert, a fifteen year old East Coast American, with little experience in the _food_ of other cultures mind you, trying to learn the awkward- to her at least -language of Japan? Two parts curiosity and one part actual interest.

As it turned out, Accelerator _did_ have a handler sent by the Japanese government to monitor his stay in America as he, quote "worked as a menial laborer because the jokers at the American institution had no idea how to handle him!" Exclamation included. The man was quite possibly the most generic man she had ever met. He was reserved, polite, cleanly trimmed, and wore a black suit. In fact, that was all she could remember about the man, even though he stopped by twice already to check up on Accelerator. His name was Mr. Sato, which according to the Hebert's disgruntled housemate, was equivalent to calling himself Mr. Smith.

" _Hajimemashite._ " The boy across from her drawled, interrupting her thoughts after he finally stifled his chuckles. She grumbled to herself. Making a good impression was so not worth dealing with this, she thought to herself. She took a deep breath and calmed down.

" _Hajimemashite._ " She said slowly, enunciating like he had shown her. His now bored face, still holding that ever present smug look, nodded.

"Passable. Though, you know trying to make an impression on Sato-san is sort of worthless, right?" He asked. She frowned. It was always good to make a good impression. At least, that's what her dad taught her, and considering his position as the head of a political union, albeit one with weak bartering power, she thought his advice was reasonable. Seeing her puzzled expression, he sighed and pulled out his phone, playing with some new app before continuing.

"Well, I'm fairly sure you Americans have those generic names…" He said as he walked over from his seat at the desk chair and plopped himself next to her on the bed. Generic names? Seeing her puzzled expression again, he snorted.

"You know, like, that movie… Mr. and Mrs. Smith?" He gestured with his hand, as though the conversation wasn't something to be worried about. Mr. and Mrs. Smith?

"You mean, he's a secret agent or assassin?" She asked slowly in disbelief. He hummed.

"Yeah. I'm a pretty important guy, ya know." She stared at the boy. The boy laying on her bed playing a stupid app, chuckling about how amusing "Block-san" was, apparently warranted something like a Secret Service detail. Taylor felt like her head was going to explode from trying to reconcile these two facts.

"I. What. No. _Who_ are you? Really?" She asked, exasperated at this charade. Earlier, she had confronted him about the same thing when they had gotten back from last week's grocery shopping. She asked him to help her with some physics homework, and next thing she knew, she was getting a lecture on some advanced theories that completely flew over her head. And when she finally got a word in, he just shrugged and hummed absentmindedly again. Later when she asked him about being a hero, he shrugged and asked her why she thought he could answer the question. When she saw him shrug, she was about to pull _his_ hair out. It was and has been really, really frustrating, okay?!

"I don't know. I know who I want to be though. Oh, Block-san, the adventures you must have…" He sighed wistfully. She glared at his nonchalant attitude. Well, two could play this game.

"Hmph. And I thought we were friends..." She said, feigning despondence. She turned her head away from him for extra effect. It was a trick that always worked on her dad, and although she didn't know much _about_ Accelerator, these past few weeks have certainly let her know Accelerator. And, from what she observed, there was no way he could-

"I've seen cuter." He dismissed almost immediately, pulling his white bangs away from his face. Almost immediately, her posture fell as the wind soared out of her sails, as if she was sucker punched. She turned to face him again. As always, his white hooded jacket was framing his body. She pouted at him as he fiddled with the zipper with an annoyed look of complacency. In the back of her mind, she wondered if he enjoyed kicking puppies as well. He sighed and gave up with the zipper, bringing her out of her thoughts.

"That look of devastated disappointment was hilarious though. So, I'll throw you a bone I guess." He said as he pulled himself up, and sat on the edge of the bed again.

"In Japan, all the big name 'capes' have titles that go with their powers," He explained. She nodded. The first one that came to mind was Lung.

"Like the Dragon of Kyushu, right? Lung, who fought Leviathan?" She asked. He stared at her, his face set in a bizarre mixture of stunned and surprised.

"You mean Lung, the Saint of Kyushu, right? Because, Dragon, the Dragon of Kyushu sounds pretty stupid to me…" He said while looking away. Saint? What the hell about the leader of one of the most notorious and vicious Brockton Bay gangs was Saint-like? She said as much. He nodded in response.

"Ah, right. I never did mention it, but Lung is a Magi. And Saint, is a level of Magi, similar to how your PRT uses numbers to evaluate threats." She digested this information. He did explain that Magi were those classified as impossible to explain, and given what she read about Lung on the forums, he fit that category quite nicely.

"But what makes that guy different from other Magi?" She asked, genuinely perplexed. At least the numbers were easy to understand. One through ten, like a disaster scale. He shrugged.

"Just means that his abilities can't and probably won't ever be able to be reproduced via physical means, whether science agrees with him or not. It's like those religious people, you know, miracle workers." He said. She nodded. That made sense as well.

"Anyways, that's not really his title. Titles are more like what your Hero types use as names. The Japanese government does not hide the identities of any of its Espers or Magi. That way we are always held accountable for our actions." He continued. _That_ made Taylor's eyes go wide.

She had learned about the Unwritten Rules of heroism in her Parahuman studies class. Apparently, due to the prevalence of world ending threats, such as Endbringers, Heroes across the world subscribed to the same rules. No unmasking, assassination, or making hits against associated people, such as family. It was to protect humanity as much as the Heroes and Villains. More bodies to throw into the grinder after all. But, to hear that a whole country completely dead set against those same rules?

"Of course, we still do get masked weirdos, but anyone stupid enough to attack a JSDF sanctioned Esper or Magi gets pinned with the moniker of Japan's most wanted." That made more sense to her. Accountability goes both ways, of course.

"Actually, now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure Lung's still got a warrant to stand trial for desertion…I'll let Sato know it'll be handled." He mulled to himself, unaware that Taylor could hear him. Her eyes widened.

"You're going to fight Lung!?" She nearly shouted. To be honest, she was fairly sure it was more the fear of losing her only remaining confidant than her fear for his life. She wasn't exactly sure how despicable such thoughts were, but at least she cared, right?

"Well duh, no one among the Circle of Saints can even hope to compare to me." He said, dismissing her worries. She trembled not in worry, but in anger. Super strength or not, how conceited can one guy get!? She gripped his jacket sleeve tightly. And pulled him close. Her glaring green eyes bored into his shocked red ones. Her eyes roamed over his face, and she couldn't help but remember, that the guy was only maybe a year or two older than her. It only made Taylor furious, that someone would throw their life away like that. If she could stand to live, then what right did he have, as someone respected with a great life, to throw it all away?

"What if you lose!? What's gonna happen?! He won't just let you walk away!" Her rage burned quickly, and already faded to charcoal by the time she finished.

"What happens… if you die?" The words tasted like ashes in her mouth. Maybe, she admitted to herself, it was something more than just fear. Something very minute, but certainly not fear. She could feel a tear begin to form. He clucked his tongue, his expression fading back to his bored look. She watched as Accelerator brought his pale hand up to her cheek, and wiped something away.

"I suppose, I haven't finished giving you your hint. Titles, Epithets, what have you, while similar to your 'cape' names, have one distinct difference. They are earned, not chosen. It is our peers that define our stature, after all. And, Tay, you are looking at Accelerator. The Strongest. He Who Wields The Power Of God. There is little in Japan, or even the world that can compete with me." He comforted the girl, while at the same time inflating his own ego she noted. Absentmindedly, amidst her swirling emotions, she realized it had been the first time he had used any semblance of her name in the past few weeks. A nickname huh? And, The Strongest. Well, she supposed that was one hell of a hint.

"Even so, if you get hurt, or, god forbid, die, I won't forgive you." She glared at him, hoping to solidify the message. He chuckled.

"I wouldn't forgive myself! Losing to a weakling like that… the shame alone would kill me." Accelerator said as he pulled his hair back into place. It had shaken out of place from when she pulled him close earlier.

"And, of course, where would you be without me? The great and powerful Accelerator?" She smiled at him. Oh, she just remembered that worrying over this asshole probably wasn't worth it. She chuckled at her own asinine humor. He chuckled a bit as well, and once again, she was surprised by the warm feeling it elicited, unlike the deriding mockery of his laugh from earlier.

She twisted his arm onto the bed space next to her and he quite literally collapsed face forward onto it.

"Yeah. Great and powerful… my ass." She interjected between laughs. He simply harrumphed before pulling out his phone once again. But, Taylor supposed, falling back into this pattern so quickly settled her worries. She supposed he wasn't totally hopeless when it came to matters of the heart. Just mostly.

"I mean, your ass is great." His voice drawled out from behind her back. This little… just had to get in the last word, didn't he? Not that she could respond, considering she was flushed from head to toe, and spluttering.

* * *

Accelerator sat next to Tay, playing on his phone once more. To be fair, no one could blame him. The Adventures of Block-san was apparently the amalgamation of effort of three off duty Programming oriented Level 3's. He never knew there was such a thing until he had to look deeper into the Level 6 advancement project after his stint.

Turns out, Japan had definitely heard of the American "Tinker" and "Thinker" abilities. They were usually Level 2 or 3's that didn't exhibit any prominent Esper environment manipulation abilities. They were mostly denoted by their unusual AIM Diffusion Fields. They had notoriously weak AIM Diffusion Fields, because what energy that would normally be exerted on the physical world was absorbed internally instead. The JSDF would conscript them to work in a think tank for three to four years and then release them with fully accredited degrees in their chosen fields. A few colorful images played across his phone screen once again.

" _Ufufufu. Ganbatte,_ Block-san." He said as he destroyed another enemy. He felt a pair of curious eyes on him, and he turned to meet them. He shrugged. Then went back to his game.

"You know, I appreciate you coming to school with me, but it'd be nice if you'd at least talk to me." She huffed. He totally did talk to her though! In fact, Accelerator was going to point that out right now.

"I did. I offered you Block-san. Which you refused. Heathen." He said, lightly glaring. He watched as she rubbed her temples. His phone then took the time as a perfect excuse to voice its own concerns.

Beep boop.

"Ah, Block-san, you truly do understand me." He sighed as he relaxed into his seat.

"A-Are you talking to it?" He heard the girl next to him hesitantly ask.

"Of course. And Block-san is a guy not an it." Boooop. Beep. "And he happens to make great conversation." This time, Taylor couldn't settle for just rubbing her temples. She took off her glasses and was pulling at her face, trying to alleviate what was likely rapid onset insanity.

"Why, oh why, did it have to be you? Why can't it ever just be someone nice? I mean, first there was Emma, who made me seriously question some personal preferences, and now there's you, who has totally shattered my belief that I have any standards whatsoever…" She said under her breath. He shrugged. Why did standards matter when one had Block-san?

Of course, left unsaid was that Block-san was in actuality a low level AI that offered combat analysis along with being a particularly cutesy and fun game character. The JSDF certainly milked those Level 3 Programmers completely dry of ideas.

The rest of their ride was enjoyed in peace. Well, relative peace, if one found the beeps and boops of an animated Japanese square peaceful. Which one of them did.

* * *

 **A/N: Some of these gags may or may not be recurring. This is listed as Humor, so I like to have fun with more filler stuff than comedy in throughout. The next one will probably be more serious, maybe angsty. Taylor might even get shoved in a locker. Who knows.**

 **Read and review please [ ' u ']**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I marked off the section with what I feel may be to intense for some readers. If you are uncomfortable, please skip to the next SPOILER after the first. I could just be over reacting, but I feel better safe than sorry. It's not a pleasant experience I'm describing and it could be drawn as equivalent to some other bad experiences.**

If the world pushes, push back harder. That was the life motto of the boy known as Accelerator. Or, at least as far as Taylor knew. It wasn't exactly difficult to figure out given his prickly disposition. And the fact that he was meeting every single awkward stare and curious glance with a positively murderous glare. Apparently, Accelerator had decided to just walk in the front door instead of sneaking in. He said that last time it was "too damn easy", and not worth the effort. Would that mean he would totally break into a more secured building for the challenge? Taylor paused in her thinking, stopping herself so that she could honestly claim deniability in the future. Shaking away those definitely illegal ideas, she turned to the scowling boy.

"You know, as a middle schooler I always thought about how romantic it would be if I was walked to school by my boyfriend…" She said before sighing. Seeing him abruptly break his staring contest with a group of boys dressed in red and green and snapping his face at her was pretty funny. She watched as he clenched and unclenched his jaw, trying to formulate a response. Taylor decided it would be prudent to interrupt him before he finished.

"But, I guess I was delusional, because watching you almost get into a fight every five feet is seriously killing the mood." She finished teasingly. He simply huffed before going back to his glaring. It was cute. The big bad wolf cowed by a teenage girl. She chuckled, patting him on the head. Though… to be honest with herself, she wasn't sure what their relationship was. She knew they were somewhat friends at this point. That was a given. You didn't get drunk willingly with someone you couldn't consider a friend, especially illegally. So there had to be something there. Turning back to the boy she was playfully petting, she gave an apologetic smile to his unamused look. Accelerator sighed in response, before staring forward and pouting. Taylor let out a giggle. It probably ruined any image or rep he was trying to establish for himself, she supposed.

This was nice. A slice of normal injected into her daily life. Though, the fact that she accepted a friendship with a certainly dysfunctional superhero normal was something that her therapist could puzzle out in the far future. No reason to fix something that ain't _technically_ broke right? She took another quick glance at him. Even though he was grouchy, Taylor could tell that she had the same effect on Accelerator that he had on her. Even though he was grouchy, he seemed to just relax. Just as before, being around someone who was so different to her norm let her open up.

In a display of affection, she leaned into his shoulder as they walked through the halls to her homeroom class. Taylor would have never let herself enjoy something like this. Mainly because she no longer had anyone to enjoy it with. She could feel him tense up, and then exhale and relax in one smooth motion. It didn't matter that she was in school, or that she was walking down the halls that plagued her nightmares daily. She was lost in her own little world. One that involved a bunch of half-hearted insults and playful teasing.

Though, the world was apathetic to the sympathies and happiness of a fifteen year old girl. So it pushed. And, unlike Accelerator, Taylor was one who would bend. Bend and bend and bend. After all, it was the stiffest trees that broke in a hurricane.

"Hey, Taylor, what's up? How was your weekend? Mine was pretty cool, I got this new game and got to spend all-" A mousey voice cut through her daydreams. She turned to look at the one who interrupted her. Blonde, bowl cut, and an obsession with video games. While comparing the geeky Greg Veder with a worldly force of power on the scale of a hurricane was pretty laughable, it completely knocked her out of her reverie. She watched as he went on and on about his weekend, and in the back of her mind, she wondered how it was possible to be this dull yet talk so much. Of course, she wasn't trying to be intentionally mean, but a half a year of conditioning to his jargon in every other class made Taylor very susceptible to tuning him out. Accelerator's rough voice speaking up made the conversation much more interesting.

"Ah, you play Block-san as well?" No. No way in hell.

"Yeah! I just got it and-" His reply was cut off immediately by Accelerator raising a pale palm to stop him. Taylor began to mentally thank whatever gods that would listen. When she saw Accelerator's eyes twinkling at her aghast expression, she began to curse those very same gods.

"Where are you at?" Greg face lit up in glee, and he chattered away, with Accelerator nodding and adding his own input every couple of paragraphs. Because, there was no way that Greg Veder could talk in any amount less than a paragraph. Idly, she wondered if this was what Greg looked like on Christmas.

They made their way through the hall, a very odd looking trio. An overly excited, nerdy chatterbox, a glum girl that accepted her fate, and an albino pretty boy with an almost serene aura around him. Most of her free time before homeroom had been spent by the time Greg left. He didn't even stop talking as he walked away from the two of them!

Huffing to herself, she pulled her books out of her locker, before turning on the cause of her fifteen minutes of misery. That smug smile made her so furious! Accelerator's slightly lopsided smirk and slightly narrowed eyes made her want to punch him.

"Why would you do that to me?!" She harshly whispered. With how close they were, it got the message across fairly well. His smile simply became more smug, if possible.

"It's not my fault he has good taste." He said. She growled, before poking him in the center of his chest.

"Even if you, somehow, by some miracle, share a common interest with Greg, that's no reason to put _me_ through that stuff this early in the morning." She said, folding her arms over her books and pulling them close to her chest. This time, instead of smirking he simply laughed.

"I wasn't talking about Block-san. Though it is a good game and you should apologize to him." Oh. _Oh_. Taylor flushed. While she wasn't exactly enthused about it, Taylor knew that Greg had to have some ulterior motive for talking to her so often. Even if it was as simple as outcasts sticking together, his reputation had to hurt more from being near her than being alone. She coughed into her hand, and pulled her books closer to her face to try and hide her embarrassment.

"Ignoring that last part, being smooth doesn't count as an apology, mister!" She said, trying to save some face by calling him out. She knew exactly what he was doing. Accelerator did this a lot, actually. Make her so flustered so that'd she'd completely forget about his transgressions. Well, it wouldn't work this time! Not that it worked last time. Or the time before that. Or the time before that. Or the time before… ah, who was she kidding, it worked all the time. She turned her nose upwards at his still smiling expression, and narrowed her green eyes, meeting his twinkling red. Oh, he knew what he was doing, and there was no way she'd let him win again! No, definitely not this time! Accelerator held his hands up in surrender.

"You didn't pack lunch today, right?" He asked placatingly. Quirking an eyebrow, Taylor put her hand into her locker and pulled her brown bag lunch off the top shelf. Then she pulled out her emergency lunch that she had packed because she had extra time and some leftover groceries from Accelerator. As if she wouldn't pack lunch. She was thin enough as is, thank you very much!

Quick as lightning, both of the boy's hands snatched the bags from her grasp before throwing them in the bin behind her. Taylor let out an indignant "Hey!" before he motioned for her to stop her ensuing rant.

"You didn't pack lunch today, right?" He asked again, amusement leaking through. Taylor frowned. Well, she _did_ have lunch, but thanks to some jerk, she now had none, and was probably going to have to find some quiet and lonely place… oh.

"Nope, I didn't pack lunch today." She replied, giving back the same tone of amusement. Although he shouldn't have gone and wasted her hard work, Taylor still felt that the gesture was sweet, if somewhat rude.

"Preference?" He asked, ending her musings. She bit her bottom lip. A few days ago, she had seen him eat something that smelled positively delightful for dinner. Taylor had gotten one bite, and it was as delicious as it had smelled. It was sweet and salty on the tongue, with a texture that she couldn't quite place. It was soft, and fell apart in her mouth. Voicing her selection, he stared at her, curiosity apparent on his expression.

"You mean unagi? Ano, it's so filling though..." She pouted at him. Internally, she was smiling. Accelerator wasn't the only one good at manipulation. Although he was resistant to her pouts, that didn't mean he was immune. She watched as he sighed in acceptance, blowing his bangs out of his face.

"Alright, alright," He said to her, before mumbling, " I guess I could always just get some unakyu, it's not as filling as full strips. But I don't know where…" Taylor took note as Accelerator made plans for their lunch mentally. All of a sudden, both were interrupted by a loud bell, signalling the beginning of homeroom. Startled, Taylor quickly wrapped him in a one arm hug, before grabbing her bag and racing towards her class.

"I guess I'll just have to make the unakyu myself then? What a greedy girl." Was the last thing Taylor heard before she turned the corner. She was not greedy! Just… curious. Yeah.

* * *

"How the hell do you make unakyu…" Accelerator asked himself. He was sitting on a stool in the Hebert family kitchen. He stared down his bag of groceries, as if expecting them to quail in fear and obey his mental command to assemble themselves into the perfect unakyu. He sighed as the ingredients remained still as ever. Feeling the need to have _something_ accomplished, he pulled out his ingredients. A few strips of eel, premade unagi sauce, some sushi-grade rice, sea-weed and cucumbers. Now, if only Accelerator knew what to do with all these lacklustre items. A spark of realization shot through him. He pounded his fist into his open palm.

"Of course!" He exclaimed. The answer was so obvious! Yomikawa had made Accelerator and Last Order unakyu about a month before he left. Now all he had to do was remember how she did it!

* * *

Taylor sat through her math class, intent on making sure she had an adequate understanding of the material. After all, the only assignments that would definitely make it to the teacher were her tests. She generally scored A's and B's on assessments, which in conjunction with her poor homework grades apparently gave the impression of a lazy, if smart student to the teacher. She snorted to herself quietly. As if they would have cared. The only reason she wasn't being detained to listen to their "caring" statements, was because she still had fair averages on scores alone. That didn't mean she was performing _well_. It just meant they didn't have to pay attention to her.

Although, Taylor had not seen hide nor hair of the sources of her torment today. They hadn't been in her first class, and Emma and Sophia hadn't shown up to P. E. That left Madison in her math class. Taylor looked over to her left. The girl in question was wearing a very dark pair of skinny jeans and a trendy sweater with pink and white accents. Her black hair was tucked over her ear, ending in a pixie cut. Madison never looked up from her phone the entirety of math class. This, Taylor noted, was completely unusual. Normally, the girl would take up the task of troubling her even though she didn't have any backup in this class. Taylor simply counted her blessings and hoped that the rest of the day would be equally as uneventful.

After trudging through two more relatively quiet classes, Taylor had to finally stop at her locker. She had to switch out her P. E. clothes and Mathematics notebooks for History binders and English texts. A sense of dread welled up in her as she walked down the hallway to her locker. The amount of the _Trio_ 's lackeys around her locker was definitely unsettling. Maybe, it would be better to just try and make due without the books? No, she needed them for notes. She shook her head, black hair curling around her shoulders, trying to clear her thoughts.

Facing her locker, she hummed as she quickly undid the padlock. Pulling it off the hook, she pushed the latch up, and went to pull out her books. Only, instead, she was greeted by a horrid site. Her locker had been filled to the brim with disgusting refuse. Used tampons, literal trash, and even more filled it to the point of bursting. She shrieked as some of it spilled out of her locker. It took her a few seconds to register that there were other people around her once more. And they were laughing.

"Oh look, she must have been homesick!" A dusky voice called out from behind her. Turning around, Taylor found the most horrible human being she had ever met. Sophia Hess. The school's upcoming track star, prom queen and all around popular girl. And an absolute sociopath. Bidden to retort, and unable to control her anger, Taylor responded.

"And what does that even mean?" She asked coldly. Hess and the rest of the group snorted. The next voice to crop up, however, was not any of theirs.

"Well, obviously, you had to be homesick. Otherwise why would you bring part of your dump to the school?" A light and smooth tone asked. Taylor looked at the speaker. Her former best friend, Emma Barnes. Daughter of an extremely affluent high-power lawyer and the main source of her problems.

"I mean, didn't your mother tell you to keep your things clean? Oh right, my bad." A dainty voice asked in a faux innocent tone. The last one, Madison Clements. Nothing more than a rich girl, who simply used her cute looks to get what she wanted. Taylor didn't respond, as more and more verbal abuse followed their initial assault. This was nothing that she couldn't deal with. Nothing she hadn't heard before. Nothing. It was nothing... god damn it! She let loose with the one piece of blackmail she had been saving. All this time, she had one piece of information to get in the final word.

"At least my mom cared." Taylor's response was quiet, but the result was deadly silent. Sophia was the first to speak.

"What the fuck did you say, you brat?" Her tone was challenging, and threatening.

"You fucking heard me! At least. My. Mom. Cared." Taylor annunciated each word, dragging the sentence out for maximum effect. She had been there toy for the past two years. She learned well enough how to insult someone. Taylor couldn't let it end there though. So she continued.

"Did you know, that on the school website, all the clubs have contact info for their members? Including the track team." She started, talking over anything the entire group was about to say.

"There's an address on your page. An address that you haven't lived at for nearly six years." The silence was being drowned out by the blood rushing through Taylor's head at this point. All she could hear was her own pulse as her adrenaline rose.

"I went there. 'Cause I wanted to see what sort of woman could raise some _thing_ like you." Taylor took a deep breath. Every single person around her, even those that would normally ignore her plight, were listening intently, no doubt to horde the blackmail for themselves.

"When she opened the door, the first thing I asked was about you, Sophia. I asked her, 'How does she let you get away with this?'" Taylor let out a chuckle. This whole situation, was the punchline to a cruel joke. And only she could see the humor in it, because she was finally _winning._

"You know what she said? She said that she hadn't seen you in years. That you're not her problem anymore. That 'the little psycho' was better off as far away from her as possible. Face it. Your mom, fucking hates you, you bitch!" She started quiet. She ended shouting. Nobody said anything after that. One could hear a pin drop. Then Sophia broke the silence first.

"Hebert, I'm gonna fucking kill you!" She charged Taylor, intent on going through with her threat. It was a blur. She felt something crash into the back of her head, and the world go blank for a second. Taylor could feel that her body was still moving, and she felt her hand land in something mushy. When she finally came to, seconds later, she couldn't see anything. Nothing but a few slits of light in the darkness. She tried to shuffle around, but found the space too cramped. It was dark. She couldn't see. But she could feel. She could smell. She could hear. **(SPOILER)**

"I'm gonna put you in a fucking time out Hebert. Maybe then you'll learn some fucking respect." She heard a voice shout through the darkness. The other sounds were just as terrible. She could hear the rush of water through the pipes in the wall behind her. The chatter and steps of the people outside. But, that wasn't the worst of it. It was the skittering of and crinkling of movement, that unsettled her the most. The millions of ticks and tacks that represented a moving organism. It was _so_ _loud_ inside her personal echo chamber.

Then, there was the smell. She couldn't breathe. It was rot, it was death. Iron, blood, garbage, all of it. She wanted to vomit, but she held herself strong. Her eyes teared, and her nose stung. Her nose started to run. A headache was forming.

She could feel the walls closing in, the space getting smaller. It was suffocating her, and she couldn't tell why. She could feel the bugs beginning to crawl up her body. Infesting her. Dirtying her. It made her want to vomit a second time.

* * *

She shouted. She banged against the door with all her might. It did nothing but add to her ever increasing migraine. The echoes rang back at her. Her own desperate pleas unanswered and unheard to anyone but herself. She desperately tried to shuffle around once more. There had to be something! Anything! Her phone! She had a cellphone now! If only she could… no. She couldn't. The angle was too awkward. Taylor had seen escape artists do such angles before, but they had to dislocate their own arms to pull it off. If she did so, she wouldn't even be able to pull her phone out. Someone had to notice she was missing right?

* * *

Taylor found it hard to breathe. Not in the sense of tightness, but literally hard to breathe. Her lungs burned with each deep breath she took. It was making her even more lighthearted than before. There was little she could do now. She could feel it coming, the encroaching darkness.

"Dad, please. Help. Anyone. Please." She whispered, more for herself than for anyone else. She called out one last name before she let herself go, but it was so quiet even she couldn't hear it.

* * *

 **SPOILER**

When Taylor woke up, she felt terrible. Her headache had nearly tripled in intensity, and the bright lights above did little to soothe it. She shifted her body. It was terribly weak. And her skin felt extraordinarily sensitive. She could feel the protrusion of a needle in her left arm, taped down at the elbow. Every shift brought its presence to the forefront of her mind. Her back was slightly chafed, and her blanket was rough. She looked at her other arm. It was slightly paler than before, not that she was very tan to begin with. She let her eyes wander before finally coming to a conclusion. Hospital. She was saved. She let out a sigh, and slept once more.

* * *

"You're awake." She nodded. She almost teared up when she saw him come in. It was welcoming. Of course, he wasn't any less obtuse, but he certainly was less abrasive. When he stepped in, he rushed to her side, making sure that everything was alright and comfortable.

"I-I" She couldn't speak. Her throat was still hoarse from all the repeated shouting. He stopped her, and fetched a glass of water for her. She downed it all at once, not realizing how thirsty she had been. As soon as she finished, she studied his face. There it was. That same sort of confusion from nearly a month ago, but it may as well have been years to her.

"I'll go get your father." He started to leave, but she gripped onto his sleeve with the little strength she had. He stopped and sat back down. She pulled her hand away from his sleeve and put it around his shoulder. She pulled lightly and he complied. She nestled herself deep into his chest as she felt his arms wrap around her. It as comforting. Safe. She cried her heart out until she fell asleep in exhaustion.

* * *

She had been here, conscious, for two days. Nine days since the incident. She had been in a coma, at the brink of death, for seven whole days. One week lost because of her own rage and the horrible actions of others. Her stomach rumbled as she smelt something delicious waft through the corridor. It was eerily familiar. She closed her eyes to enjoy the scent, finding new appreciation for the pleasing smell. A large plastic box was plopped on the bed tray in front of her. Pale hands quickly undid the twine wrapping it together. She watched, confused as he pulled the lid off the box.

"You've finally been cleared to have real food. I made this myself." He said quietly, trying not to disturb her. The smell hit her full force then. It was their lunch. The one they were supposed to have that day. She nearly teared up. No, this time she did tear up. She wiped it away with one hand, before moving to take the box from him. He pushed her hands away, before taking one of the pairs of chopsticks and unwrapping it. He pulled his stool closer to her, and using the chopsticks, took a chunk of an unagi strip, and a small bite of rice and blew on it before pushing it towards her. She bit it, and chewed ravenously. She swallowed. It was delicious. She looked at him questioningly.

"You made this?!" Taylor couldn't manage the volume. But the intent was clear.

"Hmm hmm. With a rice cooker." What? He prepared another bite, and she took it with glee. This time it was a cut of a roll. Cucumber and unagi wrapped in rice and seaweed and dipped in sauce. She chewed thoroughly before swallowing. He handed her his bottle of water that he was carrying, and she took a sip. Who cares how he made it, the question was how could she get him to make it again!?

* * *

She was sitting at home. Her dad was furious. Oh, he almost never lost his temper in home or at her. But, this time, he was mad for and at her.

"This was from _bullying_? No, no, no. Bullying is name calling. Bullying is coming home with a few bruises. You were in a coma! They could have _killed_ you! They _would_ have killed you if the kid wasn't looking for you!" He shouted. Taylor could tell that now his anger was shifting once more. He was starting to reel it in, but it was difficult.

"I-Dad… don't," She started. But, there was nothing to say. She watched as he shouted and stomped and punched. He was cursing out Mr. Barnes and the school, and anyone who could have been related. She couldn't stop him now. She turned to her side. The white haired boy hid it much better than her Dad, but even she could tell that he was pissed beyond measure.

It was all in his stance and posture. He was rigid in his chair, unlike his normal lounging style of sitting. His eyes were unfocused, but that didn't detract from the bloodlust in his red eyes. She shifted over on her bed, and pulled him close. He was shaken out of his stupor as she leaned into him for support. He gently ran his hand through the remains of her black locks. They had to cut them to reduce the likelihood of disease.

She whispered something into his ear. Accelerator's eyes went wide. He stared at her.

"Are you sure?" He whispered back. Taylor bit her tongue, thinking how best to explain it. She nodded, before pointing towards the desk behind him. He turned around. On the desk, there were about three or four ants, which normally would have disgusted her. But, it wasn't the insects that were the real focus. It was the Y shape they had formed. Then, it was an E. And a crude four point S.

* * *

"I'm going to kill them." Accelerator said to himself. He had finally recovered from Tay's revelation. She was an Esper, or a Magi! And she wasn't a natural born one either! That meant… that meant that she was broken. Accelerator had done a lot of auxiliary research as part of the Level 6 Advancement Project. The psychological trauma that one had to undergo to reach such a state that powers manifested was _dangerous_. There was a good reason most manifested Espers and Magi were unstable. Even artificial Espers like the Sisters were more stable than the damn spontaneous ones.

He felt a hand grip his shoulder gently. He looked at her. She was pale. Her hair was cut short. She was deathly thin, but gaining weight slowly. Her face had sunken slightly. But what stood out most were her piercing green eyes. He almost flinched when they stared into his own. It wasn't the same gentle gaze he had come to recognize, and that was the most jarring aspect of it all. He failed.

* * *

They were sitting on the couch, relaxing. The school had offered Tay a large settlement, and recompense in terms of grades and attendance. Of course, those last two were only on behalf of the school's good will. It had nothing to do with Accelerator shattering the principal's desk into a pile of saw dust with one tap of his finger. He didn't do threats or back room deals. Honest. The doorbell rang, and tay prodded him to go get it. He grunted in acceptance, still not willing to challenge her so soon after her ordeal. He opened the door.

"Hi! It took so long to find you! Says Misaka Misaka as she jumps happily!" Accelerator slammed the door shut.

"Who was it?" She asked, watching him as he walked back to sit down.

"Just a pain in my ass." He grunted.

 **A/N: Angst and Last Order! Yay. Fun times and sad time but mostly fun times! Sorry if it seemed choppy, but there's no way besides line break to get a double line space. Or at least I can't figure it out.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: FYI, if you haven't figured it out by the denotation on the cover or the persistent use of my sense of humor, this** _ **is**_ **a romcom. However, there will be fighting. Sometimes. Maybe. Eventually.**

Taylor looked over her design for her suit. It had taken her a while, but she finally made herself a suit worthy of a superhero. The suit was being modeled by a set of old pipes her Dad had laying around, hanging limply around the frame. It had a completely black lining, a special type of spider silk that was naturally resilient to the point of contesting the tensile strength of steel. On top of the lining were a few metallic-like plates that were formed out of the chitinous molting of other insects. All in all, not bad for a beginner.

"You're gonna look like a Super Sentai out there…" A voice behind her commented accompanied by the rustling of a bag of chips. Taylor inhaled and exhaled deeply. A loud crunch noise echoed throughout the mostly empty concrete basement. Followed by another. A few moments later, the bag rustled its final breath before being deposited in a small waste bucket by the stairs. Taylor breathed in once more, before saying one word.

"Flat." The person behind her froze, his red eyes going wide.

"I-I mean, it suits you beautifully." He complimented, his previously bored tone doing a complete one eighty. Taylor tittered happily once she heard what the boy said. It had been a trying time living with both Last Order and Accelerator, but it had been _so so_ worth it.

* * *

The past days living with Last Order had been one of the greatest headaches that Taylor had ever dealt with in her life. At first, she thought it would be amazing to have a little sister, especially one that made Accelerator groan in pain at the thought of her. Afterall, anyone who could annoy that ass was A-okay in Taylor's book!

However, what she could not stand was how the younger girl monopolized the teen's time! It was always, Misaka Misaka this or Misaka Misaka that. And every time, Accelerator would bow his head and do as the little girl said. It was just so completely out of character! She had actually thought the guy was sick after the first time she saw it happen. It had taken her a while (And a multitude of internet searches of Japan) to figure out why the boy always bended his knee to the ten year old sugar monster, but she had figured it out nonetheless.

"You're a siscon!" She said while pointing accusingly at the teen drinking soda on the couch. He sputtered ridiculously, dripping soda all over his t-shirt and pants before cursing out in watched as Accelerator rushed to the kitchen for paper towels before he came back far dryer than he had been originally.

"The hell are you talking about woman?!" He asked angrily. Taylor nodded in response, unwilling to back down. She hammered on.

"That's the only explanation. You. Are. A. Siscon!" She said her mouth coiled in a victorious smile. It was at that moment, in between the denials of Accelerator, that the girl Taylor had come to know as Last Order butted in.

"Ah, Accelerator isn't a Siscon, says Misaka Misaka understanding your confusion." The girl said in her odd manner of speaking. That was another peculiarity that Taylor had learned. The younger girl always referred to herself in third person with a cutesy nickname. Taylor's head tilted towards the girl, rather confused as to how the young man was not one of the perverted sister lovers. The brighter brunette clumsily searched for her cell phone before pulling it out of a side pocket in her pink dress.

"Accelerator isn't a Siscon. He loves Flat, says Misaka Misaka overjoyed!" The girl said. Taylor turned towards the boy, looking for some form of confirmation. The young man held a dead look in his eyes, one she had never seen before. It was the look of utter defeat. It was _delicious._ The other young girl hit play on her cellphone and handed it to Taylor. Out came the recorded voice of Accelerator.

"Flat is Justice!" His double on the screen said in English. Taylor took a closer look at the phone the younger girl was showing her. Accelerator was obviously drunk in this video. But…

"Flat is Justice! Say it with me Kamijou! Flat. Is. Justice!" The young man's voice was then joined by another young man's voice speaking Japanese, obviously equally as drunk. The strange chant continued for a few more moments, before they were both fried by a bolt of lightning. Taylor looked back at Accelerator. Then she looked down at her own chest. She smirked at him. The boy grimaced.

* * *

A voice shook her out of her reminiscence. Accelerator looked at her with a raised eyebrow, obviously confused as to why she had suddenly spaced out. Taylor turned to him.

"So what do you think? Honest opinion." She asked the professional hero seriously. The white haired teen's eyes sharpened, looking for flaws in her new armor. It was doubtless that he would find a multitude of them, but practice makes perfect, thought Taylor. The teen inspected the armor, making notes about the lining, and asking questions about the material. Taylor answered them all with exact details, considering she knew the exact processes. Accelerator turned back to her after a few careful minutes of review.

"It sucks," He began. Taylor immediately opened her mouth before she was silenced by Accelerator's palm.

"It sucks against Espers. But, you only need it to stop a bullet, so it's fine." He finished. Taylor breathed a sigh of relief. It was passable, and that was all that mattered. However, she did glare at him before deciding to reprimand him for playing with her like that. Embarrassment was a suitable punishment.

"Flat is-" A hand landed on her shoulder, causing the chant to stop in her throat. Her eyes immediately snapped to the boy's ruby red. There was a primal edge to them, one she had never seen before. She had seen them blaze with anger, or even freeze over with rage, but never had she seen the teen so predatory. His voice came out in a harsh whisper.

"I will find one way, or another to erase memories." He said, eerily calm. Taylor shuddered at his tone. He leaned in closer, until his mouth was resting just beside her ear.

"Then, I will do unspeakable things to you. Horrible things. Things that I would not wish on another human even on pain of death." He whispered, his hot breath grazing against her ear. Taylor shivered this time.

"Then, I will make you forget. And do it all again." He pulled back and walked up the stairs. Taylor watched him leave, somewhat afraid. It was a level of threatening that made her question his sanity. It was also a level of _hot_ that made Taylor question her _own_ sanity. Perhaps she did need a therapist. A very extensive and well accredited therapist. Because Taylor had so many questions that needed answers. So so many.

* * *

"Last Order, for the last time, you cannot come with us!" Taylor said exasperated. It was not long after the basement incident that Taylor confronted Accelerator to schedule her first outing as a hero. Oh, her Dad had no idea. He was actually out for the next two days at some sort of convention. Last Order pouted at the two of them before crossing her arms in childish frustration.

"But Misaka Misaka is a Level 1 Electromancer! Misaka Misaka can handle it, says Misaka Misaka!" The girl explained. Taylor slammed a gloved palm against an armored face mask. It always slipped her mind that the slip of a child could somehow manifest electrical powers on par with a mid level cape. It was somewhat disturbing honestly. She glanced at Accelerator, eyes begging for help through the orange lenses. The teen shrugged before trying himself.

"Last Order. What Taylor told you is a lie. We're actually going to go do adults things. Adult. Things. Things that children have no business in. Because that would be illegal." He said. Then, he abruptly grabbed Taylor by the arm, sprinted through the door, and used his powers to reverse gravity on the both of them. Taylor's mind was reeling as she flew through the air, guided by Accelerator's hand.

"I-Wha-I. What the fuck?!" She asked her head snapping at Accelerator, looking for a suitable answer. Sadly, for her sanity, she did not find one.

"Didn't you see the surprised look on her face? She doesn't know her way around the city yet, so that should give us a head start." He said unphased. Taylor simply stared back at the Level 5.

"How the hell does she even know what "Adult things" are?" Taylor asked still shellshocked at the absurdity of the situation. In fact, she had not even registered that she had been flying. Accelerator shrugged with a bit more energy, indicating that he had no idea either. They drifted across the sky, being shoved forward by light currents of wind.

Taylor looked down at the city below her. From up here, she supposed, that Brockton Bay was just another city. It did not look like the mental picture many had of it. Contrarily, it looked rather alive and upbeat. A million little lights flickered around the city, indicating houses, cars, lampposts, and even odder things. Taylor sighed to herself. It was beautiful from above, even if it was disgusting when one took a deeper look. Accelerator pulled her out of her path and they slowly drifted towards one of the dock buildings.

They landed with little noise. Taylor glanced at Accelerator. It was just another random power to add to the list. She was still no closer to figuring out what he could actually do. She had looked him up, by title and by name. All she could find was some public postings and propaganda placed by the Japanese government. There was absolutely no other information, besides him being the world's strongest Level 5 Esper.

"How good is your martial arts?" The boy asked out of the blue. Taylor stared at him in confusion. He sighed, understanding that the lack of response meant that she had little knowledge.

"Look, neither of us has any equipment. While _I_ can take anything, you still need to be able to fight hand to hand." Taylor stared at him concern now replacing confusion. She had not thought of that. The white haired boy grumbled before tugging on her shoulder and pointed to follow him. Taylor nodded.

Taylor ran after him across the rooftops, Accelerator helping her jump, before they eventually stopped at one of the closed self defense shops. Taylor felt weightlessness take her once more as she drifted down onto street level. She watched as with one flick of his hand, the security system sparked and unlocked, changing from a red to green light.

"What are you doing?" She hissed. The professional shrugged before strutting in the door. She followed shyly, him into the store, somewhat unsettled by his brazen breaking and entering. Before she even got past the main entrance, Accelerator already returned from deeper in the store, handing her a gun. She stared at it before staring at him. She had no idea how to handle a gun!

"It's not live ammunition, just the rubber pellets. I'm nowhere near stupid enough to give you real bullets." He dismissed. He walked over to the counter and dropped a wad of bills on the counter before waving his hand at the cash register. The machine dinged and printed two copies of the receipt as Accelerator placed his cash in the drawer. Still disconcerted by the recent events, Taylor steeled herself before gingerly taking the pistol and placing it in a holster the boy handed her.

They stepped out of the store and Accelerator locked it up before they took to the skies. In one quick trip they were already at the east end of the docks. Taylor looked around. This wasn't where they were supposed to be starting. She turned to ask Accelerator, but was met with a serious look on the boy's face. He raised one finger up to his mouth.

"Shh. Sato-san just texted me. Lung's nearby." He whispered to her. Taylor stilled. This was definitely _not_ what she signed up for!

 **A/N: So, why is this so late? I was working on a new story. Sporadic inspiration. My other worm crossover is probably gonna be updated eventually, but I want to focus on this one and my new story. School started too, so there's that. Ah well.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Guess it's a romcom :D**

"I.. I literally have no response to this. Your power is such bullshit!" Taylor was literally beside herself in irritation. Quite literally. All around her, her insects were buzzing in annoyance or skittering back in forth in expression of her frustration. Here she was, getting geared up to fight Lung with nothing but the clothes on her back and a modified rubber bullet pistol. Her anxiety was shooting through the roof, and her adrenaline was making her even _more jumpy._ But...

"How the hell did this even happen?! I fired once! Once!" And it was true. Taylor fired from the position that she and Accelerator had decided to engage from. It was a building about two blocks away from where they last spotted Lung in the train yard. From here, both her and the white haired teen had had a full view of what was no doubt some form of villain power struggle. Lung and a few of his goons were in a standoff with a group of masked teens.

"Like, what kind of bullshit power lets you do this?!" Taylor yelled exasperated. Accelerator's red eyes twinkled in mirth when Taylor finally met his gaze. She could only turn away from him and huff. He laughed. It was quite the scene below them. What once before was two groups of some of the most threatening people in Brockton Bay, was now an itemized list of unconscious villains: Six or seven ABB members in full combat gear, a tattooed man of Asian descent with a caved in mask and a massive bruise forming on his face, four monster dogs, and a group of masked teens. All with one rubber bullet.

"Tch, get over it. What did you think was going to happen? That I would let you fight Lung on your own before deciding to intervene at the last moment and saving you from an excruciating, not to mention fire-induced, death?" Accelerator punctuated his own rhetoric with his trademark sarcasm.

"Oh, and maybe, when I save you like the gallant knight I am, you'd reward me with a kiss and we'd go on to live happily ever after? Was that what you were expecting?" His words were laced even heavier with his cynicism. Taylor glared at him. So what if she had girly ten-year old dreams? There was nothing wrong with them! And besides, if he's this stupidly broken, at least he can _try_ to play along! As though sensing her thoughts, Accelerator smirked condescendingly at her. Taylor breathed deeply to calm herself, the sound escaping through the slits in her mask. Then she kicked him in the shin. Really. Damn. Hard.

"Son of a bitch! Why is it always physical with you?!" Accelerator let out as he hobbled on one leg as he gripped the other trying to soothe his pain.

"That's what you get for being a jackass all the damn time!" Taylor snarked back, tired of the older teen's penchant for being utterly intolerable. Finally settling his bruising shin, Accelerator's attention snapped back at her.

"Jackass? I was _saving_ you. I told you already, this kind of fighting is far beyond your level." He shot back calmly. Taylor hesitated a bit. She remembered what they discussed earlier in the night, and she knew that Accelerator wasn't wrong. But that didn't mean he had to hold her hand all the damn time!

"Look, call it teenage rebellion, or even stupid selfishness, or whatever, but I need to do this on my own. How the hell am I supposed to learn like this?" She questioned sincerely. Accelerator's gaze softened, far and away from the icy visage he adopted earlier. He sighed before stepping forward to the edge of the building and sitting down on the ledge. He motioned for her to do the same. Taylor stood her ground. Accelerator sighed once more, out of frustration more than anything else.

"Come on, sit. I'm done being mad." He patted the ledge next to him, lightly swinging his legs back and forth over the edge of the building. Taylor simmered a bit at his declaration. _She_ was still mad. But, she accepted his offer of truce and sat down next to him.

"There's nothing wrong with learning." He said placatingly. Taylor turned towards him surprised at his admittance.

"Then-" Accelerator's glance quieted her interruption.

"There's nothing wrong with learning. But you have to do it one step at a time. This world... " He paused, unsure as to how to finish. He looked around the trainyard below them before his eyes lit up. A stone, nothing more than a pebble, slowly levitated up towards them into Accelerator's waiting hand as though gravity stopped working for this singular rock.

"Feel this." He handed it to her. Taylor accepted it, and pulled off one of her gloves. It was a small chipped piece of stone. It had sharp ragged edges, and on some sides it was oddly smooth as if it was cut away from some sort of larger rock. Once she finished inspecting it, Taylor placed it back in Accelerator's waiting hand.

"Watch what happens when you try to do this all at once." He said. Taylor watched, as all of a sudden a tornado wrapped around the pebble. It lasted barely a second before it exploded in a shower of dust and stone.

"Agh! What happened?" Taylor yelped in surprise as she covered her face, forgetting she had a mask on.

"I tried to smooth it out. Polish it. Except, I did all the steps at once, and that exposed the structural weaknesses in the rock, breaking it." He explained before catching another larger rock out of the air. This time, Taylor inspected it intensely as Accelerator began to manipulate his power over the stone. Instead of a tornado of pressure manifesting, a singular layer of circular wind appeared. Taylor watched as it encompassed the stone, wearing away at it slowly as it rotated around the rock. It was mesmerizing to her, like watching a gyroscope in motion. Eventually, after two more full rotations, the sheet of wind disappeared.

The result was beautiful. Taylor had seen polished stones before, but this stood head and shoulders above even some of her mother's old jewelry. For one, it had become perfectly spherical. White wisps decorated the entire dark grey orb, dancing around in intricate patterns that were certainly not natural. Accelerator's voice shook Taylor out of her stupor.

"Is this obvious enough for you?" He asked lightly, waving the symbol in front of her face. Taylor nodded. It would take someone rather dense to not understand the lesson that Accelerator was giving her. Especially one that was repeated so often. It was just that… she had never been given such a visceral demonstration of the meaning of failure before. Pressure, huh?

"Good. Then we'll try again tomorrow. I have to make a call." He said as he placed the small orb on the roof behind him. Taylor grabbed it as soon as he turned around and dropped it in one of her combat pouches. It would be a good reminder. As soon as it was safely put away, she steeled herself for what she was about to do.

"I'm sorry for calling you a jackass. But I won't apologize for kicking you." She heard Accelerator scoff behind her. Taylor let out a breath she hadn't known she had been holding. Scoffing was good. Scoffing meant that Accelerator was normal about it. And normal meant good. They waited on the rooftop for a while after the white haired teen finished his call. It was a good ten minutes before the PRT and Protectorate arrived at the scene, securing prisoners and most importantly, sedating the shit out of Lung.

/-/

"You two were extremely reckless in your actions today." The blond across from Accelerator stated. Accelerator simply yawned before turning to his right. Hmm, Tay was fidgeting in her seat. Ha.

"While you did good work, you could have easily gotten yourself killed Accelerator, not to mention the potential Ward you brought in to help." Accelerator stared at her like she was an idiot. He honestly felt justified too. Him? Dying? Ha! Besides, if he wasn't going to die, then Tay was even _less_ likely to die. Seeing his uncowed attitude, the blonde haired woman pinched the bridge of her nose in an attempt to ease the oncoming headache.

"Ugh, do you have anything to add Armsmaster?" The blonde said as she turned towards the armored man next to her. Accelerator watched as she waited expectantly for an answer from the man fiddling with a pile of scrap metal on the interrogation table.

"Hm." Was the only noise that could be heard from the man's armored face as he began bartering with the white haired hero.

"Hn." Was Accelerator's reply. They had reached an impasse in negotiations.

"Oh god, please don't let there be two of him." Taylor said as both she and the blonde interrogating them let out sighs of frustration. Hearing what she said, the blonde Wards trainer let a small smile spread across her face.

"Don't worry, I'm sure they'll grow up eventually." She said reassuringly.

"Hm." Said the Hal-beard.

"Hn." Said the equally eloquent Accelerator. A new deal was struck. At some point during their negotiations, Tay had managed to break out in despair induced tears. Accelerator wasn't exactly sure as to why.

"Well, at least he won't grow a beard?" Miss Militia offered what little relief she could to the despair-struck younger teen. Now there was a thought. What would he look like with a beard? Hmm, perhaps a goatee and mustache combo. Or maybe even sideburns! He thought about it sarcastically for another moment before dismissing it. Accelerator was a clean shaven Idol, and he liked it that way. That didn't mean he wasn't going to mess with Tay though.

"I think he should." Armsmaster said, finally using his words.

"I think I should as well." Accelerator agreed. Oh look, Tay had a mental break down. Miss Militia sent a scathing glare at both the males at the conference table. Neither one of them acknowledged it.

"Shouldn't your professional attitude be rearing its head right about now?" The blonde woman said, trying to salvage the scolding attempt. Armsmaster merely shrugged.

"Not much point. If you read the kid's file, there's not much we can do." He said while pulling out some wires and stripping them before placing them back into the half finished contraption on the table. Miss Militia's eyes narrowed in thought.

"Most of his file was classified…" Miss Militia said, though it came out more as a question. Armsmaster shrugged as though it explained everything. Accelerator shrugged as well. It really did explain everything. Accelerator examined the armed hero before him.

"I like you." Accelerator stated. Armsmaster thanked him before continuing with his work. Deciding to drop every aspect of professionalism, Miss Militia rested her head in both her palms on the table.

"Of course, the two strongest heroes we have access to are both antisocial assholes." Shrug. Shrug. Loud scream of aggravation accompanied by muted sobs from realizing the destiny of those who hang out with the likes of Armsmaster and Accelerator.

"I feel that this arrangement is perfectly suitable for operating at optimum parameters." Armsmaster drawled out in his gravelly voice, interrupting the pity party.

"Yeah, I think it's fine. So what, that's a reduction in my sentence, most of their bounties, and I just have to share credit?" Accelerator said as though the past five minutes had never occurred. Armsmaster nodded.

"Normally, I wouldn't, but if I have to go do extra community service hours when I didn't have to, I would lobotomize myself." Accelerator said as he stood up and shook hands with the older hero before grabbing Tay and guiding her out of the interrogation room. Miss Militia stared at them both in confusion.

"What the hell just happened?" She asked as she turned towards Armsmaster.

"Hm." Much louder screaming could be heard.

/-/

 **A/N: Eh, pretty much a filler chapter. I'm not entirely sure what I want to do next, just that it's probably going to involve the Wards or Undersiders somehow. Also, just in my head, Accelerator and Armsmaster being able to perfectly negotiate an agreement through just grunts seems hilarious. All the while Miss Militia has to deal with the two assholes and poor Taylor gets a glimpse at the future asshole Accelerator may or may not become.**

 **Hopefully, I'll find a way to put out a more serious chapter within the next week or month or year or decade. I feel the tone was a tad too light for what I prefer, in the sense that it's more comedic than story driven, but it's filler so yeah.**

 **Read and Review :D**


End file.
